2013 in Turkey
(below); a Corsica,
France, intervention
taken during a 2017

artist residency
through the cultural
center of Bonifacio.

Isabelle Chapuis and Alexis Pichot fell in love first, and started collaborating on photographic projects second. The duo met in 2011: Chapuis
had been working as a photographer since graduating
from Paris art school ESAG Penninghen with a degree
in graphic arts in 2005, while, after a decade working
as an interior designer, Pichot had recently decided to
leave his career and devote himself to photography.

A few months into their relationship, a mutual friendtold them about PARIS JE T'AIME, a photographycompetition and outdoor exhibition hosted by SpeakFocus in which participants were asked to createimages on the topic of “Paris, I Love You.”Chapuis and Pichot conceptualized a projectwhere they filled an alcove next to the Seine withclouds of pink smoke, which they then photographed.

“We thought, ‘What could represent love in Paris?’”Chapuis tells PDNedu. “We came up with a pink smokebomb that would shape the environment.”The project combined their two artistic specialties:space and texture. As an interior designer, Pichot hadlearned to shape environments; his first photographicproject, "Révolution Parisienne,” involved lightingcontained fires in locations around the city. Chapuis’sportraiture often manipulates the form and shape ofclothing and accessories, and she had also previouslyexperimented with vibrant pigments in a 2011